Ruffling or gathering attachment for sewing-machines



J. M. GRIEST. Rufflingo: Gathering Attachment for Sewing-Machines.

No. 228,457 Patented June 8,1880.

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N.PETERS, PNOTO-LITHOGRAPNER. WASHINGTON. a, c.

UNITED STATES PATENT UrricE.

JOHN M. GRIEST, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RUFFLING 0R GATHERING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 228,457, dated June 8, 1880.

' Application filed December 8, 1879.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, JOHN M. GRIEsT, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ruffling or Gathering Attachments for Sewing-Machines, of which the following, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

In the drawings, Figure l is a top view or plan of a ruftling or gathering attachment embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a bottom view thereof; Fig. 3, a side elevation or edge view of one side or edge thereof; Fig. 4, a rear view; Fig. 5, a view of the side or edge opposite that shown in Fig. 3, and Fig. 6 a top view of the sliding plate.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts.

The object of my invention is to make a ru'lfling attachment adapted to be actuated by the feed-plate of sewing-machines. I also aim to so construct the attachment that it may with facility, or with only slight modifications of con- Sl?1'llCtl01l,b6 applied to machines differing somewhat in construction, and so that all the necessary adjustments may be easily made.

To these ends my invention consists, severally, of the various features of construction which I have hereinafter set forth, and pointed out in the claims. 7

A represents a plate resembling the throatplate of the Singer sewinganachine. B is a slot in the central part of the plate A. The slot or opening B corresponds in form and size to the opening in which the serrated feed-plate of the machine moves.

a is the needle-hole, and a a hole to receive a screw for securin g the attachment to the machine.

O is a plate, to the under face of which the plate A is rigidly applied, the plate 0 extending laterally from and forward of the plate A, and being formed and arranged not to interfere with the moving parts of the attachment, and so as not to impede the action of the machine, substantially as is clearly indicated in Figs. 1 and 2.

D is a sliding plate applied to the upper face of the part 0. This attachment of the parts 0 and D is effected by making or striking up from the part 0 the flanged bridge 0, and by slotting the part D to receive the said bridge and to be partly overlapped byits flange, as shown, the said slot being long enough to admit of the movement of the sliding plate without danger of accidental detachment during use; but, as this mode of attachment has heretofore been employed for analogous purposes, I do not here intend to claim the same, broadly.

D is an arm extending from the plate D into the slot or opening B, the forward end of the said arm having thereon two downturned flanges, b b, which enter the broader or forward part of the said opening and extend across it, as is clearly shown in Fig. 2, so as to clasp or engage the feed-plate o the machine and be moved back and forth by it without lost motion. The stroke of the feed-plate of the machine is thus communicated to the plate D, it being understood that the slot B is long enough to admit of that result.

E is an arm also extending laterally from the plate D, and F is the ruffling-blade. The blade F is so applied to the arm E as to be capable of sliding thereon to and from the needle-hole, it being understood that the said blade is to be arranged as usual with relation to the said hole.

G and G are serrations on the plate D, and H and H are bell-crank levers pivoted to the said plate. The ends of the long arms of the said levers rest on the said serrations respectively, and the said arms are flexible enough to be raised from the said serrations, the function of the latter being to retain the said arms in whatever position they may be set by the operator, as and for the purposes hereinafter more fully set forth.

The end of the short arm of the lever H enters the blade F loosely enough to turn therein, but tightly enough to move the said plate back and forth when the .end of the long arm of the said lever is moved on the serrations G, and the latter movement therefore adjusts the blade F to and from the needle-hole.

I is a bent arm extending from the plate 0 laterally, and then upward and across one end of the attachment, and I is the dividing-plate applied to the arm I and arranged over the blade F.

cis a small finger or pusher extending from the plate D and arranged near the end of the short arm of the bell-crank lever H. The space between these two parts may be either i11- creascd or diminished by moving the end ofthe long arm of the lever H on the serrations G.

J is a sliding feed bar or plate applied to the forward part of the plate 0, and extending to or nearly to the forward end of the blade F. The upper face of the plate J, near one end thereof, is serrated, as represented, to feed the goods from the needle, and is made open about the hole a.

(Z is a small finger extending laterally from the plate J, and lying between the finger c and the end of the short arm of the bell-crank lever H. The plate J is thus reeiprocated by the reciprocating movement of the plate D but the plate J will have a lost motion corresponding to the distance between the finger and the end of the short arm of the lever H, which distance may be regulated by adjusting the long arm of the said lever on the serrations G. In other words, the stroke of the plate J may be thus controlled.

It will be perceived that the sliding plate D engages the feed of the machine without lost motion, and that all the movements of the attachment are derived from the said plate; also, that the plate D and the ruffling. blade move positively together, and that the attachment-feed moves with the said plate, excepting as provision is made, as already described, for a variable degree of lost motion between these parts. Therefore the goods arranged in the rufller will not be fed with as great a stroke as the ruining-blade has; hence they will be gathered or ruffled, and the distance between the gathers may be either increased or diminished by either increasing or diminishing the difference between the stroke of the rufiiing-blade and the stroke of the attachment-feed, which may be done by simply adjustin g the lever H for that purposein the manner described.

\Vhen the attachment is applied to the machine in the manner described, the part to be ruffled or gathered is to be arranged over the rufiiing-blade, which may be either flexible or rigid, and if the ruffle is to be sewed to a band the latter must be passed underneath the said blade, both parts of the goods lying over or upon the attachment-feed.

In case it is desirable to sew the ruffle between two bands the second passes over the dividing plate, and all should meet at the feed.

In some machines the adjustment of the feed is made at the end of the stroke of the feed-plate, and in others at the first part of the stroke. 011 this account the gatheringblade might be carried too far beyond the needle, or else not far enough toward it. To compensate for this variation, and to adapt the rufiier to machines varying in the respect referred to, I have made the ruffling-blade adjustable to and from the needle.

The fullness of the plaits or gathers is regulated by changing the throw of the feed of the machine, as is done to make eithera long or a short stitch.

By mounting the dividing-plate on the arm I in the manner shown and described the ruffle may be made an inch or more from the edge.

While the feed of the machine is moving vertically the gatherer is at rest. The needle and feed of the machine rise and descend to gether, and as the feed descends the needle enters the goods and prevents the gathers from being drawn back or out during the rearward movement of the feed. When the feed rises the needle leaves the goods, and the feed then moves forward and another gather is laid.

It will now be perceived that the modifications required in order to adapt the rufiler to different machines will consist in more changes in form, or demand only ordinary mechanical skill or ingenuity. For example, this attachment may be applied to the machine by means of the thumb-screw which is ordinarily used in attaching the guides to the bed-plate, or in any way in which the guides may be attached.- It may also be attached in the place of one of the shuttle-race slides. Again, to apply this attachment to the New Home, for example, make the part A diskshaped, instead of oblong, with a proper opening for the fastening-screw, and with such a modification in the form of the engaging end of the arm D that it will properly engage the serrated feed'plate of the'machine. These and similar modifications are all that will be required to adapt the same ruffler to different machines; but the chief and essential features of my invention may remain unaltered.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, in a rutfling or gather ing attachment for sewing-machines, of the plates A and O, the plate 'A having therein the slot or opening B, adapted to receive the serrated feed-plate of the machine and having therein a needle-hole, and adapted for attachment to the cloth-plate of the sewing-machine, the sliding plate D, applied to the upper face of the plate 0 and carrying the projection c and the arms D and E, the forward end of the arm D extending into the slot or opening B, and having thereon the flanges b I), the rufiling-blade F, applied adjustably to the arm E, the adjusting-arm H, applied to the plate D and entering the blade F, the sliding feed-bar J, applied to the plate 0 and having thereon the projection d, and the pivoted lever H, also applied to the plate D, all substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. The combination, in a ruflling or gathering attachment for sewing-machines, of the plates A and G, the plate A having therein the'slot or opening B and the holes a and a, feed-bar J, carrying the stud or projection d, and provided with the arm I, carrying the all arranged and operating together substanblade I, the sliding plate D, carrying the tially as and for the purposes specified.

arms D and E and projection c, the arm D JOHN M. GRIEST. 5 being adapted to engage the feed-plate of the Witnesses:

machine, the adjusting-levers H and H, the W. O. ROBINSON,

adjustable ruffling-blade I and the sliding F. F. WARNER. 

